The use of NMR spectroscopy in the structure determination of a Leptomonas samueli glycosylphosphosphingolipid-derived oligosaccharide.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides an extremely powerful technique to determine the structure of oligosaccharides, particularly when used in conjunction with other physical techniques such as methylation analysis and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS). This brief review describes the application of NMR to the determination of the structure of an oligosaccharide isolated from the glycophosphosphingolipid (GPS) from the monogenetic trypanosomatid Leptomonas samueli. When ambiguities arise in the NMR interpretation, the use of other data will be discussed.